anderson



June 3, 1958 1 ANDERSON I Re. 24,480

ADJUSTABLE TRIMMER BAR FOR BONING TYPE MINING MACHINE Original FiledAug. 1, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Edward L. Anderson BY 2 I W ATTORNEY June 3, 1958 ANDERSON Re. 24,480

ADJUSTABLE TRIMMER BAR FOR BORING TYPE MINING MACHINE Original FiledAug. 1, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I i r: f 52 i 4 as 62 56a 60 .37 6/ 89 I 70 o O 63 k l I O 5 U \3/ a INVENTORQ Fig. 2 Edward L. Anderson June 3,1958 E. L. ANDERSON ADJUSTABLE TRIMMER BAR FOR BORING TYPE MININGMACHINE Original Filed Aug. 1, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I INVENTOR. EdwardL. Anderson ATTORNEY United States Patent Office Reissued June 3, 1958ADJUSTABLE TRIMlVlER BARFOR BORING TYPE MINING MACHINE Edward L.Anderson, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Goodman Manufacturing Company,Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Original No. 2,808,251, datedOctober 1, 1957, Serial No. 601,568, August 1, 1956. Application forreissue November 21, 1957, Serial N0. 698,019

2 Claims. (Cl. 262-7) Matter enclosed in heavy brackets appears in theoriginal patent but forms no part of this reissue specifi cation; matterprinted in italics indicates the additions made by reissue.

This invention relates to improvements in mining machines of the boringtype, wherein two or more boring heads are rotatable on parallel spacedaxes to cut con tiguous overlapping bores in advance of the machine, andauxiliary chain carrying cutter bars are disposed immediately behind theboring heads to cut off the cusps at floor and roof levels between thebores, so as to cut a generally rectangular bore.

In machines of the type above referred to, it has usually been thepractice to provide means for adjusting the cutter bars verticallyrelativelto the machine frame and the boring head to vary the height ofthe bore pattern, this adjustment being effected by a pair of hydraulicmotors of the cylinder and piston type mounted on the machine frame andconnected to the opposite ends of each of the cutter bars. The verticalmovement of the cutter bars has been limited simply by the pistonscoming to the ends of their cylinders.

In some instances it has also been the practice to mount the hydrauliccylinders on the frame by a series of vertically disposed bolts and boltholes, arranged so that the cylinders can be adjusted vertically withrespect to the frame, but still limiting the extension of the pistonrods in the cylinders to the full stroke of said piston rods.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an auxiliarymeans for limiting the extension of the cutter bar relative to the frameindependently of the length of stroke of the pistons in the cylinders.

A further object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary stop meansof the character above-mentioned capable of varying the amount ofextension of the cutter bar in relatively minute increments.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary stopmeans consisting of a pair of lengths of chain wherein one or moredetachable links of the chains can be removed or inserted so as toafford variations in vertical extension of the cutter bar in relativelylarge increments equal to the length of a chain link.

Another object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary stop meansconsisting of flexible lengths of chain or the like which may extendvertically toward a generally horizontal surface of the frame and maythence pass over direction changing devices so that the ends of thechain may be readily accessible for adjustment adjacent an outer edge ofthe horizontal face of the frame.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from time totime as the following description proceeds.

The invention may best be understood by referring to the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view of a mining machine of thetype to which the present invention is particularly applicable;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken generally on line 2--2of Figure 1, but with parts omitted to show details of the extensionlimiting upper and lower cutter bars;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken on line 33 of Figure 2showing details of one of the upper flexible extension limiting chains;

Figure 4 is a view similar to that shown in Figure 3, but with one ofthe chain links removed from the chain; and

Figure 5 is a detail section taken on line 5--5 of Figure 2 showingdetails of one of the lower flexible limiting chains, together with thedirection changing means associated therewith.

Referring now to details of the embodiment of the invention illustratedin the drawings, Figure 1 shows a mining machine of the type adapted toproduce a pair of overlapping contiguous bores in a seam of coal or thelike, and includes a main frame 21 mounted on crawler treads forpropelling the machine along the mine floor. An auxiliary frame 23 ismounted on the front end of the main frame 21 and is arranged to beraised or lowered, as usual, by a pair of jacks 24, 24 on opposite sidesof a gear casing 26. The auxiliary frame 23 is also arranged so that itmay be tilted forwardly or rearwardly by a pair of rearwardly inclinedjacks 27. The gear casing 26 has extending forwardly therefrom a pair oflaterally spaced power-driven shafts 28 which support a pair of boringheads 29 arranged to rotate in timed relation to each other. The generalarrangement of parts previously mentioned are substantially as describedin Patent No. 2,765,154, so need not be more fully described herein,excepting as to the features which form parts of the present invention.7 v

The machine has an upper cutter bar 30 and a lower cutter bar 31 mountedon the auxiliary frame 23 immediately behind the boring heads 29. Theseupper and lower cutter bars are disposed horizontally, and each have acutter chain 32 guided therealong so as to remove the cusps left betweenthe cutter heads at the roof and the floor of the mine, as is usual withmachines of this type. The upper cutter bar 30 isvertically adjustablerelative to the gear case 26 of auxiliary frame 23 by a hydrauliccylinder 34 fixed to the front face of the gear case 26 and having apiston rod 35 extending vertically therefrom and connected to the uppercutter bar 30 adjacent the outer end thereof, as shown in Figure 2. Theopposite end of the upper cutter bar 30 is provided with a duplicatehydraulic cylinder 34 and piston 35 operable in unison with the cylinderand piston shown in- Figure 2 for extending or retracting the uppercutter bar 30 bodily relative to the frame 23. A chain sprocket 36may bemounted, as usual, on downwardly inclined end portions 30a of the uppercutter bar 30 so as to serve as direction changing devices for thecutter chain 32 in the usual manner.

The lower cutter bar 31 is similarly 'arranged for vertical extensionrelative to the auxiliary frame 23 by means of a pair of hydrauliccylinders 37 and pistons 38. In

means for the the form shown herein, the ends of the lower cutter bar 31extend laterally to a somewhat greater length than the upper cutter bar30 and have direction changing chain sprockets 39 carried on arms 40pivotally connected to the ends of the lower cutter bar so as to permitthe sprockets 39 to be swung upwardly and inwardly at certain times toaid in withdrawing the mining machine from the working face in a mannerwell known in the art, so that further description of the sprockets 39and pivoted arms 40 need not be made.

Referring now more particularly to the novel features of the presentinvention as applied to the upper cutter bar 30, a length of chain 45has its lower end fixed to a pin 46 in a bracket 47 secured to the frontface of the gear case 26 of auxiliary frame 23 below the outer end ofsaid cutter bar 30. This chain is disposed in a generally verticaldirection and has a screw shaft 47 connected to its upper end by pivotpin 48. The screw shaft passes through a lug 49 fixed to the downwardlyoffset end portion 30aof the cutter bar, as shown in Figure 2. A set oflock nuts 51, 52 are threaded on the upper end of the screw shaft 47 inabutting engagement with the upper face of the lug 49 so as to permitadjustment of the effective length of the chain 45, which limits theamount of vertical extension of the upper cutter bar relative to theframe 23.

The length of chain 45 is made up of a plurality of conventional chainlinks, at least one of which links is detachable and may be removed oradded when it is desired to vary the effective length of the chain 45.This difference in an effective length of the chain may be seen byreference to Figures 3 and 4. In the latter figure, one chain link hasbeen removed so as to shorten the total length of the chain by thelength of the link which has been removed. Accordingly, with the chainconstruction shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4, the amount to which the uppercutter bar can be extended vertically relative to the gear case 26 canbe adjusted roughly by removing or adding one or more-links to thechain, and a more precise adjustment can be afforded by changing theposition of the lock nuts 51, 52 on the screw shafts 47. p

The means for limiting the extensible movement of the lower cutter bar31, as shown in Figures 2 and 5, is essentially the same as previouslydescribed in connection with the limiting means for the upper cutterbar, excepting that in this instance the chain 56 is connected to a lug57 on the lower cutter bar 31 and extends upwardly beneath anoverhanging underface 58 of the gear case 26. In order to facilitate theadjustment of the length of the chain 56, a direction changing device,herein consisting of a horizontally disposed pin 59, is mounted atopposite ends in a lug 60 depending from the underface of the gear case26, and the chain 56 is trained over said pin 59 so that a generallyhorizontal component 56a of said chain extends along said underface andhas a screw shaft 61 connected to its outer end passing through a lug62, also depending from the underface of the gear case. The lug 62 isdisposed closely adjacent the side edge of the gear case, however, inposition to permit ready access to a set of lock nuts 63, 64 threaded onthe outer ends of the screw shaft 61, when it is desired to adjust theelfective length of the chain 56.

It will be further understood that the length of the chain 56 can alsobe varied by removing one or more detachable links therefrom in the samemanner as previously described in connection with the chain 45associated with the upper cutter bar 30.

Although I- have shown and described a certain embodiment of myinvention it will be understood that various changes and modificationsmay be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventionas defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a mining machine of the boring type having a mobile frame, a pairof laterally spaced boring heads rotatable on said frame for cuttingcontiguous bores in advance of the machine, a horizontally disposedchain carrying cutter bar on said frame rearwardly of and generallytangential to the circular paths of said boring heads for removing thecusps left between said heads and means including extensible fluidpressure motors for adjusting said cutter bar vertically relative tosaid boring heads, the improvement which comprises a flexible memberhaving one end fixed to the frame for limiting the vertical adjustmentof said cutter bar relative to said frame, the other end of saidflexible member having a threaded extension, and the cutter bar having alug through which said threaded member extends for endwise adjustment bya threaded nut.

[2. The structure of claim 1 wherein the frame has a horizontallydisposed face toward which said flexible member extends, and a directionchanging element is mounted on said face about which the flexible memberis passed, and the end of the flexible member is adjustably connected tothe frame adjacent the outer edge of said horizontal face] 3. In amining machine of the boring type having a mobile frame, a pair oflaterally spaced boring heads rotatable on said frame for cuttingcontiguous bores in advance of the machine, a horizontally disposedchain carrying cutter bar on said frame rearwardly of and generallytangential to the circular paths of said boring heads for removing thecusps left between said heads and means including extensible fluidpressure motors for adjusting said cutter bar vertically relative tosaid boring heads, the improvement which comprises a flexible memberhaving one end fixed to the cutter bar, said frame having a horizontallydisposed face spaced from said cutter bar and toward which said flexiblemember extends, a1 direction changing element mounted on said face aboutwhich said flexible member is passed, and an adjustable connectionbetween said flexible member and said frame adjacent the outer edge ofsaid horizontal face.

References Cited in the file of this patent or the original patentUNITED STATES PATENTS 2,373,226 Coates Apr. 10, 1945 2,402,505 MooreJune 18, 1946 2,684,641 Warf July 27, 1954 2,715,527 Cartlidge et a1Aug. 16, 1955

